Romney wishes Hurricane Sandy ‘hadn’t happened,’ hurt campaign

Mitt Romney has started going on cable TV, telling interviewers he wishes Hurricane Sandy “hadn’t happened” and that the storm that did $50 billion in damage also damaged his campaign.

“I wish the hurricane hadn’t happened when it did because it gave the president a chance to be presidential and to be out showing sympathy for folks:That’s one of the advantages of incumbency,” Romney told CNN.

“But you know, you don’t look back and worry about each little thing and how could that have been different. You look forward.”

Mitt Romney on the campaign trail.

Hurricane Sandy was no little thing, but a super-storm. It devastated the Jersey Shore and portions of coastal Long Island and Staten Island. President Obama was quickly on the scene with New Jersey’s Republican Gov. Chris Christie, and returned to the Jersey Shore two weeks ago to look at recovery efforts.

Romney and his wife are hosting a Utah retreat this week for influential friends. Witness the number of those friends who flew their private jets to Boston for election night last November, the Romney camp was convinced (along with Fox News pundits Karl Rove and Dick Morris) that it was going to win.

“The election was close enough in the outcome with what 4 percent difference between the two campaigns that a number of things could have made the difference,” Romney said.

He did say of Hurricane Sandy, on Fox News: “I don’t think that’s why the president won the election.”

But Romney implied that IRS scrutiny of Tea Party groups might have impacted the election. He wanted to know Obama’s whereabouts during the Benghazi attack.

Romney acknowledged his “mistakes” during the CNN interview, and “regrets” the 47 percent remark that a bartender recorded at a big-givers fundraiser in Florida. He talked about actor Clint Eastwood’s bizarre, profane empty chair skit at the Republican Convention, saying: “Clint didn’t hurt my campaign. I hurt my campaign.”

As well, argued Romney, the media can’t take a joke. “Jokes, for instance, will get you in trouble,” said Romney.

Obama won the election by a margin of 5 million votes, carrying every so-called “Swing State” except North Carolina.